Johnny Depp eyeing return to "Black Mass"

The 50-year-old actor is reportedly tipped for a return to the real-life crime drama following his departure from the movie over an alleged pay dispute last year.

Depp is tipped to star as Boston crime kingpin-turned-fugitive Whitey Bulger in the drama.

'Out of the Furnace' director Scott Cooper is now expected to helm the feature, replacing Barry Levinson, who had previously been slated to direct.

Bulger, who was the leader of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, topped the FBI's list of most wanted criminals before disappearing for a decade. He was later arrested in California in 2011 and is currently serving time in a Massachusetts state prison for second-degree murder.

'The Great Gatsby' actor Joel Edgerton had been slated to star opposite Depp as a crooked FBI agent, John Connolly, who was tasked with bringing down Bulger but aided him in his disappearance.

The film was titled after Dick Lehr and Gerald O'Neill's 2001 New York Times best-seller 'Black Mass: The True Story of An Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob', and will be produced by Cross Creek Pictures and Universal.